For some it may be an open secret, for others it could be a total surprise. Yet, while you have been enjoying your festive meals and a well-earned rest, we have been putting the finishing touches on our brand-new website. This is not a simple redesign: the entire website has been rebuilt from scratch. From the databases to the code and design, everything is new. Next week, ahead of the SIHH, you will be able to discover the new layout, which will offer even better performance and user-friendliness. The only thing that will not change is the content itself, which will remain the high-quality editorial that you are used to from our team of in-house writers and our correspondents around the world, 365 days a year.
“ Win a ladies’ watch by Eterna in our monthly competition ”
But what else awaits us in 2017? Find out this week and next in our interviews with some of the leading watch industry CEOs. There will also be anniversaries (130 years of Eberhard and 20 years of Hysek, to name just two) and, looking at some of the more recent launches, some continuing trends and some new ones: more bronze cases, more sapphire cases and new champagne dials. And there will certainly be no lack of creativity and innovation, as you will discover very soon.
The attendee list was regulated to 300 tastemakers, influencers, top-of-craft artisans, racers, and modifiers. The three day event would consist of long enjoyment rides, flat track racing, Sons of Anarchy-esque convoy expeditions, an unconventional drag race, along with a secret window at which us “outlaws” could conceal and reminisce about the day’s tomfoolery.Vincent Prat and Paul d’Orleans were the organizers of Wheels and Waves California and many of the motorcycle sector’s trendsetters and influencers have been in attendance that afternoon including Jamie Robinson from MotoGeo, Roland Sands from RSD, and even Steve Caballero, a world renowned pro skater, simply to name a couple. Brands like Alpinestar along with a ton of all-star modification passengers were current too, such as Deus ex Machina, Revival Cycles, Brat Style, and Suicide Machine Company, just to name a few.The occasion was tightly packed with all kinds of motorcycle “anti-racing.” Race day one was in the Santa Maria Raceway, where I would spend my hot afternoon running across the dirt trail, photographing and watching the Vintage and Super Hooligan flat track races. The sweltering sun took the race organizer to set up the watering truck onto the dirt trail to get it nice and slippery to the races to come and boy were they sideways.Race day two had me roaring towards Santa Margarita, where I would embark on a private landing strip for Crooked Sprints. Drones over, the finish line banner dance in the dry 105 degree weather. One by one, bicycles would trickle onto the tacky hot tarmac. One hundred feet apart, a decommissioned train on what appeared to be a railway going to nowhere, turned into a shady refuge from the heat lamp over. However, more racers arrived, proudly piloting their custom creations, waiting for when the checkered flag could fall for them.
A new year also means a new month, and therefore a new competition. This month you can win a Baume & Mercier Classima Automatic worth 2,340 Swiss francs.
Our offices officially open for business in 2017 on 9th January, when our new website will be launched with all the latest news ahead of the SIHH. For this reason, our next newsletter will be sent out one day later than usual, on Tuesday 10th January.
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